Keeping it #Villa100: NYCFC Dominates Galaxy in Home Opener

NEW YORK CITY, NY – The Pigeons were feeling their home cooking Sunday evening as they completed a convincing 2-1 victory over the visiting LA Galaxy.

New York City FC continue to look dominant on the field as they remain unbeaten through their first two matches of 2018.

Confidence

Goals!: David Villa and Anton Tinnerholm both had a milestone Sunday evening. Tinnerholm – playing for the first time at Yankee Stadium – managed to net his first MLS goal to put the home side up 1-0. The captain had a glowing review for City’s newest defender, “Anton did well in Kansas, and he did well tonight. He has good character, a good personality, and he’s a good addition to the team […] He can score goals, and we need goals.”

Young Gun:Jesus Medina once again had a standout performance, making runs and getting into dangerous positions. Asked how he compared to the departed Jack Harrison, Villa said “It’s not just [Jesus’ responsibility], it’s about everybody playing in the side to make everyone forget about Jack.” (Important to note, David quickly clarified he meant on the field).

Possession is 9/10ths…:NYCFC finished the first half with 70% possession and the match with 61%. Despite giving a little ground in the second half, the back line and midfield have done an exceptional job controlling the pace of play through two matches.

Concern

What Just Happened?:Jonathan dos Santos’ 60′ goal seemingly came out of nowhere. Against the run of play, it just seemed to catch everyone off guard and in it went. Tough to really lay a lot of blame for this play – these things happen – but as they say: 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer. Cutting the score in half lead to a momentum shift that LA wouldn’t really relinquish for the rest of the match.

Near Miss: City ended up out-shooting the Galaxy 20-7, but so many of those shots could have been converted. This is an issue that’s been plaguing the Pigeons since last season, and hopefully it’ll be something we see addressed. Especially in the second half, a lot of crosses were dribbling right across the goal and not getting tagged by someone following up on the opposite side, instead trickling harmlessly out of bounds. Rodney Wallace and Yangel Herrera are the perfect type of player to get on the end of those balls – muscling their way into the box to just finish what’s being started. If City can get someone to start finishing those crosses consistently, there aren’t a lot of teams in the league that will be able to stop them.

NYCFC’s next match will be next Saturday, March 17th (Happy St. Patrick’s Day!) at 3:30pm Eastern against the Cyle Larin-less Orlando City.